DBS Bank equips 16,000 employees with data skills for the future

Over the last 18 months, DBS Bank has taken the step to equip more than 16,000 employees across all its 18 Asian markets with big data and data analytics skills, in efforts to further strengthen its digital capabilities and prepare its employees to be future-ready.

The goals of this bank-wide upskilling programme, known as 'Data Heroes', are three-fold. The bank aims to enhance its employees' ability to use data to address business challenges in a highly-structured fashion; use data analytics to better identify business opportunities, and facilitate closer collaboration with the bank's data scientists and technology teams so as to create more intuitive products and services.

This programme offers staff a comprehensive training curriculum, which addresses different knowledge and skills levels across the bank - from novices whose day-to-day roles do not require them to have much interaction with data analytics, to data experts looking to sharpen their skills.

As part of this, employees will have the opportunity to learn at their own pace and select what they need to improve on from a range of online courses, workshops, and community programmes.

Further, employees undergoing these programmes will be able to learn more about the concept of becoming a data-driven organisation, the Internet of Things, data storytelling, and the responsible usage of data and data visualisation.

Speaking on the decision behind this initiative, Paul Cobban, Chief Data and Transformation Officer, DBS Bank, said the bank has set a goal to enable its employees to be champions of life-long learning.

He added: "Technology is advancing rapidly, and we need to ensure our staff have the knowledge, skills and tools to not only adapt to change, but also build communities with their peers so as to create a virtuous cycle of learning.

"By empowering our staff with new technical and soft skills, they’re more efficient and productive at work. This will enable them to have a more fulfilling career as well."

Photo and caption / provided [DBS employees Ma Ling L) and Nelson Lam (R) attended the Data Heroes programme together and learned how to use data to address business challenges and identify opportunities]